Six Hot Wordpress Magazine Themes

If you read my blog regularly then you know that I am developing another blog called Blogging Essentials and that I am a big fan of trying to have an appealing looking blog. I think readers give attractive sites more credibility than they do ugly sites. It might not be fair, but it’s fact.

I have some big plans to develop Blogging Essentials into a premium resource for blogging and I am in process of developing the content for it. A good look will only get you so far without some substance.

While I develop my pillar content and get my plans in order, I have started the search for a hot theme for my new site.

Magazine Themes are Hot

I have grown fond of the Magazine style themes that are becoming so popular as of late and I have been researching the offerings that are available in the marketplace. I have some requirements from the theme that I am looking for, which eliminated some themes from consideration.

Some of the things that I want:

• Easy to modify - Must be widget friendly and offer clean code.
• Reasonably unique layout. Not much point in paying for a premium theme if it looks like everyone else.
• Support Must be Available - If something goes wrong I want some help dangit.
• Designer Reputation - I want someone who has been doing it long enough to have a reputation.
• Easy to purchase - This may seem silly but I HATE waiting for stuff I have purchased. If you are serious about selling your themes then get a delivery system that delivers quickly.

None of these are deal breakers but they are definitely factors that I am considering. I have been looking around for about a week or so now and the themes below are the ones that I have separated from the herd.

This is my short list of themes that I found to be the most attractive and that I am still considering. These are as good as it gets in my opinion when it comes to Magazine style themes.

Revolution Magazine Themes

If you haven’t hear of Revolution then you likely are very new to the blogging world. Brian Gardner came charging onto the scene last year with his release of these series of themes and they are in a word awesome.

Brian offers a number of variations of his Magazine themes which will allow users to tailor it to the specific type of site that they are developing. I am not going to give you a screen shot of all of them as it would take up 7 pages but you can see them all at the Demo link below.

I have first hand experience with Revolution as I hold a Developers License to them and I can tell you that they make for great bases to build a site from. Brian writes very clean code that is well documented and easy to understand.

They look great, work great and will fit the bill for a number of projects. Brian will have to play catch up a little bit to some of the latest offerings that have automatic picture resizing, cropping etc. The only downside to Revolution for me is the initial setup time to get everything functioning and set up the way you want it.

Once you figure out the whole “magazine” concept and the way the pages are laid out then it makes perfect sense. This series of themes are definitely in the running for my new site.

See All The Demos

Make sure you Scroll Down once you hit the page.

Premium News Magazine Theme

Adii is quickly making a name for himself in the design world and recently redesigned his own blog. I have read that he is not a big fan of his own redesign but I have to tell you I think it’s awesome.

One of the most unique themes that I have seen and I love it. The theme below is his Premium News theme.

Adii offers a NUMBER of variations of his Premium News theme and all of them could be the base for your next site. He has recently released a series of themes called Live Wire in conjunction with Mark Forrester.

I have been eyeballing these themes carefully and for some reason I keep coming back.I have not had personal experience with the code on this theme but it’s popularity and the number of variations that I have seen out there tell me that it’s very popular and likely very easy to modify.

If you are looking for a Premium News theme then you may find exactly what you are looking for amongst the many variations of the theme at the Demo link below.

I am leaning more towards a Web 2.0 feeling for Blogging Essentials so I am not sure if this theme fits the bill BUT I find myself coming back to it over and over, so maybe that’s telling me something.

See All The Demos

Solostream Magazine Themes

Michael Pollock has been designing themes for a while now and has put out several offerings ranging from traditional style blog themes to the Full On Magazine theme shown below.

Michael offers great support and recognizes that a number of bloggers will want to modify his themes and he provides videos on his site that shows them exactly what to do. This is a remarkable feature that I think all of the designers should offer. It definitely gives him a leg up in the service department.

I like his themes, they are clean and laid out nicely and I was considering this one carefully but I think I have decided that the design isn’t what I am after for Blogging Essentials but it may be just what the doctor ordered for your site. Michael offers a number of themes in addition to this one.

Check these themes out for yourself as you may find exactly what you are looking for in a theme.

See All The Demos

Graph Paper Press Magazine Themes

I have no first hand experience with this line of themes from Thad Allender but I have to say I think they are awesome! I am extremely happy that I came across them during my research. They have a NUMBER of variations so you can find something for everyone if you like the gray minimalist style themes.

I really like the ultra clean, minimalist look to these series of themes. They look fantastic and present a very clean, fresh look to the site. They are sleek, clean and modern and remind me of Skellie’s blog.

I think these themes are very attractive and they are offering an INCREDIBLE deal for this package. 99 dollars buys you all 10 themes offered up currently AND they will give you a free copy of all future themes they release in 2008. The author claims they will be releasing 1 theme per month.

This is an amazing offer and very tempting to me. I am considering this one carefully and would love some feedback in the comment section from anyone that might be using one of these themes.

See All The Demos

Mimbo Pro Series Magazine Theme

Mimbo has been a free theme available on the net for quite some time and has been modified to produce some great looking sites. The designer Darren Hoyt stepped it up several notches with this premium offering called the Mimbo Pro.

This theme offers a number of revolutionary new features coded right into the template. This will dramatically reduce your dependency on plugins and reduce your set up time for a new blog.

One thing that sticks in my craw about this theme though is the prominent ad space offered on the right hand side. The author chose to make this 200px by 125px. NO common ad banners come in this size. This may be an easy fix in the code but come on. To include that many features and then force the authors to create custome sized ad banners?

That just doesn’t make any sense.

Some of the features are:

• Control panel options for Google Analytics and Feedburner, logo and header image management, homepage categories, optional color schemes, and advertisement management
• Custom templates for categories, archives, authors, sitemap, search results
• Auto-resizing for images
• Built-in contact form
• HTML controls for comments (bold, italics, blockquote, link)
• Print-friendly options on single-post pages
• Two widgetized sidebars with optional advertising
• Tabbed and separated comments/trackbacks
• Built-in gravatars and author highlighting
• Cookie crumbs on single-post pages
• Print.css stylesheet
• Optional microformats in the footer

I have to say right now this is my favorite. I am not super crazy about the color scheme but it’s very Web 2.0 and has a huge feature list that would be fun to play with.

See The Demo

WordPress Dream Theme Magazine

Ben Cope is the designer behind this very attractive theme. I must say I am attracted to it for a number of reasons.

This theme offers a featured article at the top where you can highlight your best content and leave it there for as long as you choose. A prominent RSS area, a generous advertising space and an attractive layout are just a few of the reasons I am considering it.

It also has an embedded video area as well as a neat little tabber feature that allows you to maximize the real estate on your blog sidebar.

I keep trying to convince myself that I want a Web 2.0 type site but I find myself drawn to the traditional magazine style blog format that we are all familiar with. I am definitely a creature of habit.

Give it a look and maybe it’s for you.

See The Demo

Conclusion

After two weeks of searching it is clear to me that these are some of the hottest Magazine Style Wordpress themes on the planet. There are others, but none that offer anything that isn’t offered here.

I have yet to find the perfect theme and as such I may consider having a full on custom theme designed for me. That way I can combine the elements that I like from all of these themes. The price of course would reflect this but I am open to that. I am willing to spend the money to get exactly what I want so I may just go that way.

I will leave you with the chance to cast your vote…..which theme would be for you?

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